Security

Security is a waste of time and the most important thing you can do!

99.9% of the time, it won't make any difference. But that 0.1% could cause all sorts of problems.

Security is a big subject and there is lots and lots to it.

Most ADSL routers come with built in firewalls. Windows, Linux and Mac's all have firewalls either built in or as add on's and each system has file security on top of that.

The thing to remember with ADSL routers in particular, is to turn the firewall on! Often they are off by default. Most routers now come with wireless capabilites and the wireless is not always locked down by default, so anyone can connect to your network. You need to either turn the wireless off, or if you are actually going to use it, set it to WPA encryption and preferably WPA2 and put in a password with more than 7 characters. For even better security, lock access down to hardware addresses, but this is a little trickier and only adds slightly to the security of the system. It's also a good idea not to call the wireless network a name that might be interesting, as hackers might then want to have a go at hacking it. You can also stop it from broadcasting the name all together, which makes it even harder (for both you and the hackers!). Firewalls and locking down your wireless help, but they’re no magic bullet. Hackers can still get your details from viruses, malware, spyware and probably through methods that haven’t even been discovered yet.

Passwords
It's recommended to use at least 7 characters in a password. Don't use easy to guess ones, like your dogs name etc. There are heaps of articles on the internet on basic password security, but the most important points are to use at least 7 characters, one of which is a number or a symbol, don't tell anyone your password and change it every now and then.

Limit Sensitive Data
Do not go posting your date of birth, address and phone number on your Facebook page or anywhere else that is not 100% necessary. If you’re going to store passwords on your computer somewhere, put them in an excel spreadsheet or word document and password protect the document. Just don’t forget what it is, as if you’ve used a difficult password to protect the document, you won’t be able to hack it to open the document to get all the others back and don’t laugh, it happens quite often.

100% Safety
It just isn’t possible. Nothing on a computer is 100% safe. For most businesses and home computer networks, the internet is the biggest threat, so do what you can, but remember, it’s impossible to be 100% secure, so limit your exposure to the internet where possible and limit the amount of places you use sensitive data like passwords, bank account details etc.

AntiVirus
See the link on AntiVirus, but essentially, having it helps with security.